Too Little, Too Late
by sleepless-royalty
Summary: "Lucy had always been insecure, and that cat - that stupid cat - kept on repeating the things she already knew." - Implied Natsu x Lucy, Lisanna x Lucy, and Lisanna x Natsu. (Trigger warning, I think?)
1. Original

**_"Lucy had always been insecure, and that cat - that stupid cat - kept on repeating the things she already knew."_**

* * *

 _"The key to being perfect is by putting a face on."_

 _"Putting a face on? But I already have one. Why would I need another?"_

* * *

Lucy grinned at the ice and fire duo, before the entire facade practically melted off of her and she kicked them out of the guild hall with the enraged shout of, "Lucy kick!"

"That's what you get for trashing my apartment, you morons," she muttered.

"My, my," Mirajane giggled slightly, a tray balanced against her on her flat palm as she placed a strawberry smoothie on in front of Lucy. "You're the only person who can keep them in check besides Erza!"

Lucy beamed in pride at the white haired girl, "Thanks, Mira."

Curled up on the counter, a blue furred cat called Happy snickered, "Wow, Lucy, you're so modest."

The pride swelling in the celestial mage's chest deflated, but Lucy only scoffed, "Stupid cat."

* * *

 _"When other people try to drag you down, hit 'em where it hurts."_

 _"But isn't that mean?"_

 _"Of course it is, darling. However, self-preservation is everything, my dear."_

* * *

"And, you're a complete princess who can't even do a fucking thing for herself without having to have Salamander swoop in to come and save her," Gajeel ranted, attempting to point out every flaw in Lucy's request to fight each other to get even. "Can't you see, Bunny Girl? You don't stand a chance against me."

That was where Lucy drew the line. She slammed her book closed, snapping, "At least I never beat up on defenseless, innocent girls and pinned them up onto trees. Or laughed as I caused destruction, hurting everyone around me and not giving a single _damn_ about it!" The other guild members' eyes were wide at this.

Gajeel grunted, narrowing his eyes at her before stalking out of the guild hall, sulking.

"That was unnecessarily harsh, Lu-chan," Levy whispered.

"Yeah, he just started to make up for all of the bad things he's done!" Happy chimed in. "How would you feel if someone said those kinds of things to you?"

Lucy felt her eyes welling up because he'd said it to her plenty of times, but pushed the thought of crying to the deepest trenches of her mind.

 _Self-preservation is everything, self-preservation is everything, self-preservation is everything -_

"I'm going home," the blonde announced, tucking her book into her bag and walking out, chin held high.

* * *

 _"Always know that the world is against you. You're a spy for your own sake. Gather information, and use it in due time. No one is trustworthy."_

 _"Can I trust you, Mama?"_

 _"Of course, Lucy, I'm the only one you_ can _trust."_

* * *

"Lucy, you must stop being a hindrance to the team. Get stronger, I know you have the potential. I'll help you, I remember going through the same type of struggle when - "

"Oh, boo- _fucking_ -hoo," Lucy spat. "I get it, you were enslaved as a kid. Your lost the boy you loved to the dark side. You had to get stronger to beat him one day and save him. I get it - you're Erza Scarlet and you're dead set on being better than everyone else."

Erza's eyes darkened.

"Lucy!" Gray exclaimed, shocked. The wound was still fresh on Erza ever since Simon had died a couple weeks ago.

"You crossed a line there, Lucy," Happy said. "Even I know better than that. Hey! Erza didn't lecture me! Does this mean I'm stronger than Lucy?"

Lucy froze, "I'm sorry. I'm being a brat, aren't I? I'll work harder, Erza, and I _swear_ I won't ever say such terrible things again."

Erza straightened, "I accept your apology, Lucy." She walked ahead, Gray hesitantly trailing after.

"You okay, Luce?" Natsu asked the blonde celestial mage who hadn't budged an inch.

Lucy chuckled darkly, "Of course, I'm fine, Natsu, why wouldn't I be?"

Natsu didn't look convinced, but moved ahead nonetheless. Happy muttered, "She's _scaryyyy_."

* * *

 _"Lucy, I need you to follow all of these three rules I have laid out for you. In all honesty, they are mere variations of one another, however you must know and follow them all precisely."_

 _"Why are you teaching me this?"_

 _"Because I want you to succeed. Will you?"_

 _"I will. For you, Mama."_

* * *

Darkness and hatred towered over her menacingly. Her path was not a pleasant one. She turned it around in every way she could, she followed the advice. She failed, time and time again. Her words cut, they stabbed, they wounded. She couldn't, she wouldn't harm anyone or thing - not anymore. Not anymore.

* * *

 _"I can't take it."_

 _"Don't be weak, my darling."_

 _"I'm not weak. I'm strong. Stronger than you."_

 _"You'll fail. Just like you fail everything. You'll give in, darling. You need me."_

 _"My mother was kind. You are not her."_

* * *

"And she's ugly and dumb and fat and a complete meanie!" Happy said cheerily. "Natsu says so, too, because I say it, is what Mira says, but it's still true. That's why - "

Lisanna, who had been listening to the entire rant about Lucy along with various other guild members, had been the one to cut him off. "Are you sure you should be saying these things about Lucy? She obviously cares about you and values your opinion as much as she does the rest of the guild, especially Natsu's. She's a good person, really, and you know that. You could be hurting h - "

"Thanks, Lisanna," Lucy muttered, cutting off the animal takeover mage. She had been listening the entire time. Lisanna then noticed the book Lucy had been concentrating so intently on wasn't an interesting new story, but rather ways to diet.

"Lucy," Lisanna reached out to grab the blonde's hand. "Wh - "

"Happy," Lucy stared at the exceed, determination filling her eyes. "I know I'm fat and ugly and weak and useless and dumb, as you so kindly put it. But I refuse to be called mean any longer." The book fell from her hands, and she dropped to her knees, much to the shock of everyone in the guild.

"I t-tried so hard to be perfect," she whispered. "I l-listened to everything s-she said, and t-then I couldn't anymore because I w-was being so cruel and vindictive and t-the looks on Gajeel and Erza's f-faces… I-I just c-couldn't take it anymore."

"Luce?" Natsu's whisper surprised everyone, they had never seen the dragon slayer so gentle. "C'mere."

She fell against him, closing her arms around his torso and sobbing uncontrollably. Glares were shot at the exceed who had hurt her in such a way. Happy looked hollow, before he curled up on top of her head, muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," like chant, hoping that it would all go away.

And then she pulled away, her eyes empty and broken and dry and _red_ , full of malice and hatred and everything she tried to repress.

"The key to being perfect is putting a face on," she recited brokenly, bitterly, relishing in the attention she was receiving and shocked looks thrown her way. "When other people try to drag you down, hit 'em where it hurts. Self-preservation is everything. Always know that the world is against you. You're a spy for your own sake. Gather information, and use it in due time. No one is trustworthy."

Her lips curled into a smirk, "Especially me."

The silence spoke for itself.

"Lucy," Natsu murmured.

 _I love you, I love you, I love you -_

"Please come back," Lisanna whispered.

 _I love you, I love you, I love you -_

* * *

 _"You were right, Mama, I needed you."_

 _"Too little, too late, sweetheart."_

 _And she lost her soul to the darkness._

* * *

Her limp hair, pale and dead, fanned out on the tile of the bathroom floor. -

Breathe in.

\- "And that cat - that stupid cat - kept on repeating the things I already knew." -

Breathe out.

\- "I'm done." -

Breathe in.

\- "You're too late to save me now, Natsu." -

Breathe out.

\- _and she's gone_.

* * *

("Wow, Mom, that was a depressing story," a young teen with silver hair and onyx eyes said. "I'll see you guys later, I'm going on on a girl's night with Gracie."

The door closed.

"I miss her, Natsu."

"I know."

A pause.

"I loved her, Lis."

"Me, too.")

* * *

 **Fin.**

* * *

 **Wow, I am legit shit at writing angst. I literally barely understand this. Yes, Natsu and Lisanna got married. Yes, Lisanna was in love with Lucy, almost as much as Natsu was. Yes, they only got married because Lucy died and they were the only people who knew how the other felt. Gracie is Gajeel and Levy's daughter. No, the voice is not actually Layla, but a voice created by Lucy to fill the void Layla left, only things took a bit of a wrong turn.**

 **Happy annoys me sometimes, so sorry, and I get annoyed whenever people say that he is their favorite character because he mocks and patronizes Lucy too much for my liking.**

 **This was barely proofread, like it was lightly reread but not seriously checking for every single mistake like the freaking Grammar Police.**

 **Enjoy the rest of your day.**


	2. FIXED

**New & improved thanks to fairyglitter101!**

* * *

The stellar mage wasn't completely sure if it was her mother's voice in her head, or just a long lost echo the bounced around in her distant, faded memories. You know those times when you mishear something and your start inventing what you believed they said? It was like that. The voice that mimicked Layla's was never exactly _hers_ but something to fill in the void of what Lucy believed she would have meant for her daughter.

* * *

 _"The key to being perfect is by putting a face on."_

 _"Putting a face on? But I already have one. Why would I need another?"_

* * *

Lucy grinned as her two best friends fought one another behind Ezra's back, laughing at their insults that they threw at one another – Really, you would of thought they would be more creative with their insults after ten years. But the insults never changed.

When they got more frisky and neared dangerously close to the blonde, who had set up a sort of writing work area at the table of the guild in hope of inspiration, it had to come to an end.

"Lucy Kick!" seemed to be formidable move that the light summoner had come attached to. It didn't kick them out of the guild, but it broke them up enough for them to be hauled out by the ears. Guild members jumping out of the way of the blonde seething mage. Because they did not understand the struggle to write a fictional story! The hours that are poured into paper to be nearly set on fire or frozen and the soggy when it melted!

When Lucy had packed up her table and jammed her paper into a messenger bag that she used to transport her work, she decided to grab a quick drink from the bar.

Mira's doe eyes looked up at her in amusement.

"My, my," she tittered, "You have to be the only person who can keep those two in check besides Erza when the times calls for it. What _is_ your trick?"

Looking up with exhausted eyes, because the life of an aspiring writer felt like always having late night homework due, "Nothing. No trick."

She smiled at the barmaid. If there was one person that could stroke her ego it was the she-devil Mirajane.

A flash of blue fur passed her face, settling itself on the counter in front of her, "You can be soooo modest sometimes Lucy." His words were sarcastic, she tried not to throw her own insults at the feline. "Almost as modest as Lisanna, who never brags about herself!" he snickered, cover his mouth with a freshly licked paw.

"Shut it you stupid cat!" The little moment of happiness popped like a bubble.

* * *

 _"When other people try to drag you down, hit 'em where it hurts."_

 _"But isn't that mean?"_

 _"Of course it is, darling. However, self-preservation is everything, my dear."_

* * *

A few days later, Lucy once again camped over a table at the guild trying to edit her story. But it just wasn't happening when Gajeel loomed over the table, metal piercings glinting in the reflected light.

"And," he continued to what he felt was his very valid point. "You're a complete princess who can't even do a fucking thing for herself without having to drag Salamander in to come and save you," Gajeel ranted. "Can't you see, Bunny Girl? You don't stand a chance against me."

In his five or so minute rant, the blonde had invented five ways to take out someone with a fountain pen in her head. She had remained calm during his speech, but the demon inside her wanted to tear into him. And if he wasn't afraid to do that to her, then why should Lucy be to him?

Looking up calmly, with the most deadpan expression to ever come across this earth, only to be thrown off with a smile so sweet it could give you cavities.

"At least I never beat up a defenceless group of people and pinned them to tree's because I was told to. And then, laugh at the destruction I have caused, which hurt people in this very room. And you _never_ gave a damn that you did it, even still."

Glaring at one another with such tension that someone could have cooked at marshmallow between them. Giving a grunt of indignation and the guild, kicking the door open as he did so. No doubt to sulk.

"That was unnecessarily harsh, Lu-chan," Levy whispered, who had been helping Lucy edit her story. The blonde did feel Levy's feelings were biased because of her affection to Gajeel, but decided to hold that back.

"Yeah, he just started to make up for all of the bad things he's done!" Happy chimed in. "How would you feel if someone said those kinds of things to you?"

Lucy felt her eyes welling up with warm glittering tears, but pushed the thought of crying to the deepest trenches of her mind.

 _Self-preservation is everything, self-preservation is everything, self-preservation is everything -_

"I'm going home," the blonde announced, tucking her work into her bag and walking out, chin held high.

* * *

 _"Always know that the world is against you. You're a spy for your own sake. Gather information, and use it in due time. No one is trustworthy."_

 _"Can I trust you, Mama?"_

 _"Of course, Lucy, I'm the only one you can trust."_

* * *

The echo at back of her mind was strongest at night when there was the most silence to hear it. It drew her closer to a black hole in her mind she didn't want to fall into.

Things had been worse lately. Everyone seemed to be attacking her more, coming down on her like a ton of bricks. Or was she just being too sensitive? Was she too sensitive to this world?

"Lucy," Erza started, "I love you and that is why I am trying to help you! Our team is ready to take on harder missions, but you are not. I know you have the potential to train harder, and you will not be at risk of faltering on a mission, you wouldn't be a hindrance – not that you are now – on the team."

Lucy listened, feeling layer upon layer upon layer of aggression inside her building up wanting to burst. She had kept it bottled up inside her like meat that was eventually going to go off.

Erza continued. "I know you have the potential –"

 _Snap_!

"Oh, boo-fucking-hoo," Lucy spat, eyes flicking alive with doormat anger. "You had a shitty past, like the rest of us. And unlike the rest of you have been able to push your physical limit. You are strong in your own way. Team Natsu is formed because we are different. We have strength that another does not. So don't try and make me a replica of you. I am fine in my own way!" _Was she?_

Continuing, "I get you that you want to push to be the best, and make others to, but you come off more condescending than you realise!"

Erza's eyes darkened.

"Lucy!" Gray exclaimed, appalled. The wound was still fresh on Erza ever since Simon had died a couple weeks ago.

"You crossed a line there, Lucy," Happy said. "Even I know better than that. Hey! Erza didn't lecture me! Does this mean I'm stronger than Lucy?"

There was a tense silence, and when it was not broken, Lucy realised she would. "I'm sorry." They just didn't realise what she was feeling like lately. "I see that I was just acting bratty for no reason. Sorry." Brown eyes looked at the floor of the floor of the training room.

Erza straightened, "I accept your apology, Lucy." She walked ahead, Gray hesitantly trailing after.

"You okay, Luce?" Natsu asked the blonde celestial mage who hadn't budged an inch.

Lucy chuckled darkly, "Of course, I'm fine, Natsu, why wouldn't I be?"

Natsu didn't look convinced, but moved ahead nonetheless. Happy muttered, "She's scaryyyy."

* * *

 _"Lucy, I need you to follow all of these three rules I have laid out for you. In all honesty, they are mere variations of one another, however you must know and follow them all precisely."_

 _"Why are you teaching me this?"_

 _"Because I want you to succeed. Will you?"_

 _"I will."_

* * *

The dark hole in her mind was torn even wider. The blonde felt her pull to it as though it was magnetic. Soon…soon she would fall in and be lost forever.

Darkness and hatred towered over her menacingly. Her path was not a pleasant one. She turned it around in every way she could, she followed the advice. She failed, time and time again. Her words cut, they stabbed, they wounded. She couldn't, she wouldn't harm anyone or thing - not anymore. Not anymore.

* * *

 _"I can't take it."_

 _"Don't be weak, my darling."_

 _"I'm not weak. I'm strong. Stronger than you."_

 _"You'll fail. Just like you fail everything. You'll give in, darling. You need me."_

 _"My mother was kind. You are not her."_

* * *

"And she's ugly and dumb and fat and a complete meanie!" Happy said cheerily. "Natsu says so, too, because I say it, is what Mira says, but it's still true. That's why - "

Lisanna, who had been listening to the entire rant about Lucy along with various other guild members, had been the one to cut him off. "Are you sure you should be saying these things about Lucy? She obviously cares about you and values your opinion as much as she does the rest of the guild, especially Natsu's. She's a good person, really, and you know that. You could be hurting h - "

"Thanks, Lisanna," Lucy muttered, cutting off the animal takeover mage. She had been listening the entire time.

Lucy had finished her book and had a landed a agent to get it published, it was the only thing that was dragging her on to get through; not that the others knew.

Lisanna then noticed the book Lucy had been concentrating so intently on wasn't an interesting new story, but rather ways to diet.

"Lucy," Lisanna reached out to grab the blonde's hand. "Wh - "

"Happy," Lucy stared at the Exceed, determination filling her eyes. "I know I'm fat and ugly and weak and useless and dumb, as you so kindly put it. But I refuse to be called mean any longer." The book fell from her hands, and she dropped to her knees when she tried to stand, much to the shock of everyone in the guild.

"I tried so hard to be perfect," she growled out as tears had once again to gather in her eyes. "I-I listened to everything she said …" Thinking of the fake echo of Layla's voice in the back of her head. "And t-then I couldn't anymore because I was being so cruel and vindictive and t-the looks on Gajeel and Erza's f-faces… I-I just c-couldn't take it anymore."

"Luce?" Natsu's whisper surprised everyone, they had never seen the dragon slayer so gentle. "C'mere."

She fell against him, closing her arms around his torso and sobbing uncontrollably. Glares were shot at the Exceed who had hurt her in such a way. Happy looked hollow, before he curled up on top of her head, muttering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," like chant, hoping that it would all go away.

And then she pulled away, her eyes empty and broken and dry and red, full of malice and hatred and everything she tried to repress.

The hall of the guild fell silent but Lucy pressed on, "The key to being perfect is putting a face on," she recited brokenly, bitterly, relishing in the attention she was receiving and shocked looks thrown her way. "When other people try to drag you down, hit 'em where it hurts. Self-preservation is everything. Always know that the world is against you. You're a spy for your own sake. Gather information, and use it in due time. No one is trustworthy."

Her lips curled into a smirk, "Especially me."

The silence spoke for itself.

"Lucy," Natsu murmured.

"Please come back," Lisanna whispered.

* * *

 _"You were right, Mama, I needed you."_

 _"Too little, too late, sweetheart."_

* * *

The darkness had Lucy by the arm now and it was dragging her to the hole. She was so close to falling in…

* * *

Breathe in.

"And that cat - that stupid cat - kept on repeating the things I already knew."

Breathe out.

"I'm gone."

Breathe in.

"You're too late to save me now, Natsu."

Breathe out.

* * *

("Wow, Mom, that was a depressing story," a young teen with silver hair and onyx eyes said, placing down the book written by the author Lucy Heartfilia. "I'll see you guys later, I'm going on on a girl's night with Gracie."

The door closed.

"I miss her, Natsu."

"I know."

A pause.

"I loved her, Lis."

"Me, too.")

* * *

 **UPDATE: Thank you so much for editing fairyglitter101! Sorry, I updated later than planned.**


End file.
